Flying high to bust dope

GRANT COUNTY — Authorities from federal, state and local agencies finished conducting a week-long sweep of Grant County hunting for marijuana growing operations, ultimately seizing 10,179 plants valued at $15.2 million.

Drug authorities used both helicopters and fixed-winged aircraft — furnished by the Washington National Guard, federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Washington State Patrol —  to cover the roughly 2,650 square miles of Grant County.

No arrests were made in connection with the illegal growing operations.

“Most of those (marijuana plants) are tended to in the evening hours,” Chief Deputy John Turley, with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, said Tuesday. “We have to catch them in the act and we have no ability for night surveillance.”

Turley said the marijuana grows were scattered throughout the county, including the Quincy Lakes area, Beverly and Royal City.

The smallest seizure included 37 plants along Silica Road near Interstate 90. The largest was found in the 2400 block of Road 20 N.E., just three miles east of Soap Lake, where 1,340 plants were discovered. Each plant is valued at about $1,500, Turley said.

The sheriff’s office is still investigating the Soap Lake operation.